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ORIGIN OF HONEY PROTEINS AND METHOD FOR ITS QUALITY CONTROL

HASSAN NAZARIAN^1*, RAZIEH TAGHAVIZAD² AND AHMAD MAJD³

Abstract: As one of the best suppliers of energy and the necessary substances in human’s nutrition, honey has numerous consumers all over the world. There are some protein compounds in honey in addition to sugars, lipids and mineral compounds. Relative quantity of proteins in honey compound is considered as a quality index. Determination of the quantity of plant origin (pollen) and animal origin (honey bee) of the proteins of honey is an important but unknown issue. Knowing this ratio can be an index for quality control of honey. In this research, 6 honey “unifloral” samples were collected from “Sirachal” region located in Karaj-Chaloos Road, 40 km from North of Karaj in different months. After a quantity of each honey sample was diluted with water, pollens were counted in 10 gram of each sample using optical microscope. Total quantity of proteins in each sample was specified through method of “Bradford”. Electrophorus profile of pollen proteins used by bees, pollens in honey and honey proteins were prepared and compared through electrophorus method of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis. Statistical study of tests results and repeating them was done by T test. The results showed that honey collected in June-July has the most quantity of pollen (680000 in each 10 g honey). Average of the whole pollen proteins that were mostly used by honey bees is 35.91±5.56 of the dry weight of the pollens. Honey collected in June-July with the most amounts of pollens has the most quantity of total protein means 0.99% of the total weight of the pollen and honey collected in Aug.-Sep. with the least amount of pollen (147000 in each 10 g) has the least quantity of total protein means 0.37% of the total weight of the pollen. Average protein of the whole honey during hive establishment is 0.64±0.26% and average quantity of pollen proteins of honey in this period is 0.24±0.14%. Since proteins are among very valuable compounds in human’s nutrition and plays vital role on growth and health of cells, quantity of the whole protein of honey is one of the quality indices and since based on the tests carried out in this research, about 1/3 of proteins of honey penetrate it through pollens, ratio of pollen proteins to total proteins of honey can be considered as a new index for examination of honey quality.

¹Dept. of Natural Sources, Higher Education Center of Agriculture, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Karaj, Iran

²Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Rey Branch, Dept. of Biology, Tehran, Iran

³Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch, Dept. of Biology, Tehran, Iran